The Merino is the most economically
influential breed of
sheep in
the world, prized for its
wool. Super
fine Merinos are regarded as having the
finest and softest wool of any sheep. Recently
the low price of wool has led to more emphasis
on the market and sale of the animal's meat.
Poll Merinos have no horns (or very
small stubs, known as scurs), and horned
Merino rams have long, spiral horns which
grow close to the head.

Etymology

There are two proposed
origins[1]
for the Spanish word:

Merino may
be an adaptation to
the sheep of the name
of a Castilian official
inspector (merino)
over a merindad,
who may have also inspected
sheep pastures. This
word is from the medieval
Latin majorinus,
a steward or head official
of a village, from
major, meaning
great.

Merino may
be from the name of
a Berber tribe, the
Marini (or in
Castilian, Benimerines),
which intervened in
the Iberian peninsula
during the 12th and
13th centuries.

Characteristics

The Merino is an excellent
forager and very adaptable.
It is bred predominantly
for its
wool,
and its carcase size is
generally smaller than that
of sheep bred for meat.
The South African Meat Merino
(SAMM) and merinofleischschaf
have been bred to balance
wool production and carcase
quality.

The term merino
is widely used in the textile
industries with very varied
meanings. Originally it
denoted the wool of Merino
sheep reared in Spain, but
due to the superiority of
Australian and New Zealand
wools the term now has broader
use. In the dress-goods
and knitting trades the
term "Merino"
still implies an article
made from the very best
soft wool.

Regions of Merino husbandry

In
Argentina,
Australia,
New
Zealand, South
Africa and the western United
States where sheep are bred
for their wool rather than
their
mutton, Merino sheep
dominate. Australia produces
about 80% of the world's
Merino wool. In Australia
and New Zealand Merino ewes
are crossed with
Border Leicesters and
other English long wool
breeds to produce first
cross prime lamb mothers
and prime lamb wethers.
The prime lamb mothers are
crossed again with
Poll Dorsets and other
short wool breeds and the
resultant second cross lambs
slaughtered as prime lambs.

History

The Merino is a productive animal developed
by man. The genetic history of the
Merino
is not a linear history of a gene pool selected
over time for superior wool or fleece weights,
but a history of outcrossing and the selection
of material that is productive in the local
environment. It is a history where genetic
material from one era in the breed's development
becomes the foundation material for further
development in another era.

The
Phoenicians introduced
sheep from Asia Minor into
North Africa, and the foundation
flocks might have been introduced
into Spain as late as the
12th century by the
Beni-Merines, a tribe
of
Arabic Moors. In the
13 and 14 century genetic
material from England was
introduced
[3], this influence
was openly documented by
Spanish writers at the time.

Spain became noted for its
fine wool (spinning
count between
60s and 64s) and built up
a fine wool monopoly during
the 12th and 16th century,
with wool commerce to Flanders
and England being a source
of income for Castile in
the Late Middle Ages.

Most of the flocks known
as cabanas or cavanas were
owned by nobility or the
church; the sheep grazed
the Spanish southern plains
in winter and the northern
highlands in summer. The
Mesta was an organisation
of privileged sheep owners
who developed the breed
and controlled the migrations.

The three great studs
that founded most of the
world's Merino flocks were
the Royal Escurial flocks,
the Negretti and the Paula.
The infantado, Montarcos
and Aguires studs had an
influence on the Vermont
bloodlines.

Before the 18th century
the export of Merinos from
Spain was a crime punishable
with death. In the 18th
century a new era began,
small exportation of Merinos
from Spain and local sheep
were used as the foundation
of Merino flocks in other
countries. In 1723 some
were exported to Sweden,
but the first major consignment
of Escurials was sent by
Ferdinand VI of Spain to
his cousin, Prince Xavier
the Elector of Saxony, in
1765. Further exportation
of Escurials to Saxony occurred
in 1774, to Hungry in 1775
and to Prussia in 1786.
Later in 1786 Louis XVI
of France received 366 sheep
selected from 10 different
cavanas, these founded the
stud at the Royal Farm at
Rambouillet. The
Rambouillet stud enjoyed
some 'undisclosed' genetic
development with some English
long-wool genes contributing
to the size and wool-type
of the French sheep.[4]
Though Emperor the Rambouillet
stud had an enormous influence
on the development of the
Australian Merino.

Sir Joseph Banks procured
two rams and four ewes in
1787 by way of Portugal
and in 1792 purchased 40
Negrettis for King George
III, to found the royal
flock at Kew. In 1808, 2000
Paulas were imported.

The King of Spain also gave
some Escurials to the Dutch
government in 1790; these
thrived in the Dutch Cape
Colony (South Africa). In
1797 Governor King, Colonel
Patterson, Captain Waterhouse
and Kent purchased sheep
from the widow of Colonel
Gordon, commander of the
Dutch garrison in Cape Town.
When Waterhouse landed in
Sydney he sold his sheep
to Captain John MacArthur,
Samuel Marsden and Captain
William Cox.

In 1804 John
Macarthur (who had been
sent back from Australia
to England following a duel
with Colonel Patterson)
brought seven rams and one
ewe from the first dispersal
sale of King George III
stud. In 1805 Macarthur
and the sheep returned to
Australia, Macarthur to
reunite with his wife Elizabeth
who had been developing
their flock in his absence.
Macarthur is considered
the father of the Australian
Merino industry however
in the long term his sheep
had very little influence
on the development of the
Australian Merino.

From 1765 the Germans
in Saxony crossed the Spanish
Merino with the Saxon sheep[5]
to developed a dense, fine
type of Merino (spinning
count between 70s and 80s)
adapted to its new environment.
By 1802 the region had four
million Saxon Merino sheep,
and was becoming the centre
for stud Merino breeding,
and German wool was the
finest in the world.

In 1802, Colonel David
Humphreys, United States
Ambassador to Spain, initiated
the Vermont strain into
North America with an importation
of 21 rams and 70 ewes from
Portugal and a further importation
of 100 infantado Merinos
in 1808. The British embargo
on wool and wool clothing
exports to the U.S. prior
to the 1812 British/u.S.
war led to a "Merino
Craze" with William
Jarvis of the Diplomatic
Corps importing at least
3500[6]sheep
between 1809 to 1811 through
Portugal.

The Napoleonic wars (1793-1813)
almost destroyed the Spanish
Merino industry. The old
cavanas were dispersed or
slaughtered. From 1810 onwards
the merino scene shifted
to Germany, the United States
and Australia. Between 1810
and 1840 Australia was engaged
in a wool trade war with
Germany while importing
German sheep. By 1840 Australia
had won the war mainly because
of Germany's preoccupation
with fineness.

By 1801 Australia had
33,818 sheep. Macarthur
pioneered the introduction
of Saxon Merinos with importation
from the Electoral flock
in 1812. The first Australian
wool boom occurred in 1813
when the Great Dividing
Range was crossed. During
the 1820s there was increasing
interest in Merino sheep.
In October 1820 Macarthur
showed and sold 39 rams,
grossing
510/16/5.[7]
By 1830 the Australian sheep
population was nearly 2
million. In 1823, at the
first sheep show held in
Australia, a gold medal
was awarded to W. Riley
('Raby') for importing the
most Saxons, W. Riley also
imported
Cashmere
Goats into Australia.

In 1841, John Murray at
Mt Crawford in South Australia
established a flock of Camden-blood
ewes mated to Tasmanian
rams. To broaden the wool
and give the animals some
size it is thought some
English Leicester blood
was introduced. The resultant
sheep were the foundation
of many South Australian
strong wool studs.

The
Peppin brothers took a different
approach to producing a
hardier, longer stapled,
broader wool sheep. After
purchasing Wanganella Station
in the Riverina they selected
200 station bred ewes that
thrived under local conditions
and purchased 100 South
Australian ewes bred at
Cannally that were sired
by an imported Rambouillet
ram. The Peppin brothers
mainly used Saxon and Rambouillet
rams importing four Rambouillet
rams in 1860. One of these,
'Emperor,' cut an 11.4 kg
(5.1Kg clean) fleece. They
ran some Lincoln ewes but
their introduction into
the flock is undocumented.

In the 1880s, Vermont
rams were imported into
Australia from the U.S.,
since many Australian studmen
believed these sheep would
improve wool cuts, their
use spread rapidly. Unfortunately
the fleece weight was high
but the clean yield low,
the greater grease content
increased the risk of fly
strike, they had lower uneven
wool quality, and lower
lambing percentages. Their
introduction had a devastating
effect on many famous fine-wool
studs.

In 1889, while Australian
studs were being devastated
by the imported Vermont
rams several U.S. Merino
breeders formed the Rambouillet
Association to prevent the
destruction of the Rambouillet
line in the U.S. It has
been estimated that today
50 percent of the sheep
on the U.S. western ranges
are of Rambouillet blood.[6]

The federation drought (
1901-1903 ) reduced the
number of Australian sheep
from 72 to 53 million and
ended the Vermont era with
the Peppin and Murray blood
strain becoming dominant
in the pastoral and wheat
zones of Australia.

In Australia today, a
few Saxon and other fine
wool German bloodline Merino
studs exist in the high
rainfall areas.[8]
In the pastoral and agriculture
country Peppins and Collinsville
(21 to 24 micron) are popular.
In the drier areas one finds
the Collinsville (21 to
24 micron) strains. The
development of the merino
is entering a new phase,
objective fleece measurement
and Best Linear Unbiased
Prediction is now being
used to identify exceptional
animals.

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